(a) The director shall propose rules for legislative approval
in accordance with the provisions of article three, chapter
twenty-nine-a of this code to:

(1) Authorize a spending unit to purchase specified
commodities and services directly and prescribe the manner in which
such purchases shall be made;

(2) Authorize, in writing, a spending unit to purchase
commodities and services in the open market for immediate delivery
in emergencies, define emergencies and prescribe the manner in
which such purchases shall be made and reported to the director;

(3) Prescribe the manner in which commodities and services
shall be purchased, delivered, stored and distributed;

(4) Prescribe the time for making requisitions and estimates
of commodities and services, the future period which they are to
cover, the form in which they shall be submitted and the manner of
their authentication;

(5) Prescribe the manner of inspecting all deliveries of
commodities, and making chemical and physical tests of samples
submitted with bids and samples of deliveries to determine
compliance with specifications;

(6) Prescribe the amount and type of deposit or bond to be
submitted with a bid or contract and the amount of deposit or bond
to be given for the faithful performance of a contract;

(7) Prescribe a system whereby the director shall be required,
upon the payment by a vendor of an annual fee established by the
director, to give notice to such vendor of all bid solicitations
for commodities and services of the type with respect to which such
vendor specified notice was to be given, but no such fee shall
exceed the cost of giving the notice to such vendor, nor shall such
fee exceed the sum of $125 per fiscal year nor shall such fee be
charged to persons seeking only reimbursement from a spending unit;

(8) Prescribe that each state contract entered into by the
Purchasing Division shall contain provisions for liquidated
damages, remedies or provisions for the determination of the amount
or amounts which the vendor shall owe as damages, in the event of
default under such contract by such vendor, as determined by the
director;

(9) Prescribe contract management procedures for all state
contracts except government construction contracts including, but
not limited to, those set forth in article twenty-two, chapter five
of this code;

(10) Prescribe procedures by which oversight is provided to
actively monitor spending unit purchases, including, but not
limited to, all technology and software commodities and services
exceeding $1 million, approval of change orders and final
acceptance by the spending units;

(11) Prescribe that each state contract entered into by the Purchasing Division contain provisions for the cancellation of the
contract upon thirty days' notice to the vendor;

(12) Prescribe procedures for selling surplus commodities to
the highest bidder by means of an Internet auction site;

(13) Provide such other matters as may be necessary to give
effect to the foregoing rules and the provisions of this article;
and

(14) Prescribe procedures for encumbering purchase orders to
ensure that the proper account may be encumbered before sending
purchase orders to vendors.

(b) The director shall propose rules for legislative approval
in accordance with the provisions of article three, chapter
twenty-nine-a of this code to prescribe qualifications to be met by
any person who is to be employed in the Purchasing Division as a
state buyer. The rules must provide that a person may not be
employed as a state buyer unless he or she at the time of
employment either is:

(1) A graduate of an accredited college or university; or

(2) Has at least four years' experience in purchasing for any
unit of government or for any business, commercial or industrial
enterprise.

Persons serving as state buyers are subject to the provisions
of article six, chapter twenty-nine of this code.
Note: WV Code updated with legislation passed through the 2015 Regular Session
The WV Code Online is an unofficial copy of the annotated WV Code, provided as a convenience. It has NOT been edited for publication, and is not in any way official or authoritative.